Moog Music’s Animoog software synthesizer for iOS has been hugely popular with Synthtopia readers – partly because of the name behind it, but mostly because it’s a well-designed, great sounding synth.
If you’re a Animoog user, here are a several ways you can get more out of it.
Moog recently introduced a new sound library for Animoog, designed by Richard Devine.
The Devine Expansion Pack includes 32 original presets handcrafted by Richard Devine himself. Also included are 43 new Timbres, nearly doubling Animoog’s sonic vocabulary. For details, see our previous post on the Devine Expansion Pack for Animoog.
Here’s a track, Momentum, created by composer Sascha Dikiciyan. Dikiciyan has composed music for over a dozen game titles, including Mortal Kombat vs DC, Prototype, Borderlands, and Mass Effect 3
All of the synth sounds you hear in this track are from the Devine Expansion Pack. The only non Animoog elements are a sampled Kick, Snare, Hi Hat and a small String and Brass sample.
Here are the technical details behind the track, in Dikiciyan’s own words:
Almost everything you hear is played live into my sequencer. Of course I did a lot of audio editing, but tried to stay away from using plugins.
All of the effects you hear including filter, delay and distortion on the synths themselves, are all coming from Animoog. No other plugins were used.
To create the arpeggio-like synth hooks and bass lines I’ve used an analog- style MIDI sequencer app called Phaedra. With background audio and network session enabled, it works very well with Animoog. Again, that was played live into my computer and then edited only for timing consistency.
Some of that side-chain like pumping was done simply with volume automation in my sequencer. To add a slight cinematic touch, I’ve used some Orchestra samples via Kontakt.
Dikiciyan’s track is a great demonstration of what the current state of the art in iOS apps is capable of. You can learn more about Dikiciyan at his site.
You’re not going to maximize the potential of Animoog, though, just using presets. Here’s a tutorial from Moog’s Chief Engineer Cyril Lance that looks at Animoog’s Timbres.
Timbres are the essential sound source of Animoog’s Anisotropic Synth Engine. ASE allows you to move through an X/Y space of timbres to create a constantly evolving soundscapes.
Got other ideas on how to get more out of Animoog? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
I hope moog follows in korg’s footsteps and allows custom user sounds in animoog. i mean its pretty much granular synthesis anyways, isn’t it?
Hm, I’d say Animoog doesn’t use granular synthesis but rather a form of shifting between wavetables. But of course it would be nice if users could load their own waveforms. Though I wouldn’t count on it, it’s not a sampler after all…
They will not let you load your own wave of course, in this way you have no other choice than buying only their own waveforms, timbres or whatever rhey call it. Its all marketing my friend.
yeah wavetable actually.
Details, Gentlemen. Details.
EricLerner, are you saying that as the ASE “orbits” around an XY space containing wavetable shapes it is slicing through the wavetables and creating “grains” and this is just jargon, relabeling granular synthesis with different words? Or that this is a variation of the Reason Malström so-called “graintable” synth? If you are, just say so, because this is all interesting stuff and the only way we can learn is if people stop getting hung up on jargon and just say what they mean (or try to). Granular synthesis seems to be the “flavor of the moment” so it wouldn’t be surprising if people try to find their own approach to it.
Yes!
If you could create your own timbres and swap them with other users it would be huge.
Love what they’ve done so far though and that demo track above is pretty hot.
Well, the “timbre” presentation didn’t add much to the blurb.
I think it’s a granular process, but the wavetables are prepared so they are more or less in sync at waveform period level.
You can hear what I think is artefacts from the granular sampling in the overtone mini-sweeps as he moves through different waveforms at 0:48-0:49 and 1:05-07 and 1:20-28.
Nice of them to keep the wall of modules around for background to videos though.
Lets users remember what Moog was about and associate with their current products…
Imho I think the animoog sounds pretty crappy, just as all synts i tried on the ipad. The sound are enormously digital.
Although the iMS and the animoog are decent enough, fun to use and good for some particular sounds.
What’s the best way I could use my Animoog app with an actual keyboard, lets say a microkorg? Does anyone do this?
Yeah, digital is SO crappy. It’s just like back when they started using electricity on guitars… I KNEW no good would come from THAT!
Analog-o-saurs RULE!
Not bad but its basically a sampler with good editing, with a lot of prerecorded samples from a lots of hardware synthetizers. The anisotropic synth engine etc etc is just a marketing tool to make you think that there is a real synth engine etc inside.
I will still prefer real synth apps, not sample based or wavetables etc.